"She's back...And she's bringing a few of her friends."

Film Synopsis:

While still out to destroy the evil Umbrella Corporation, Alice joins a group of survivors who want to relocate to the mysterious but supposedly unharmed safe haven known only as Arcadia.

My Take:

Alice (Milla Jovavich) worked at Umbrella Corp, in a lab that was working on experimental viral weaponry. Things went awry and the T-virus leaked out killing everyone in its path. Once dead, the virus really kicked in, bringing the people back to life as zombie's. The T-Virus worked in Alice making her a Super-Solider like the Virus intended; she has been fighting for her life ever since. After 5 video games and 3 movies comes Resident Evil: Afterlife, the 4th film in the series, and Alice is still fighting and hoping to find a safe, T-Virus-free place to live. After revenge killing the reminisce of the Umbrella Corp's underground Tokyo base, she heads to Arcadia, Alaska, after hearing rumors of it being the safe haven she so hopes for. When finally making to Arcadia, she re-teams with her friend Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) and realizes its not the place she had hoped for. They take off to LA and find a band of survivors and team up to go to the real Arcadia, which is a huge vessel in the sea.

My experience with Resident Evil is limited, I played the first 2 video games, so I know of Umbrella Corp. and the general back-story. I saw Resident Evil 1, and thought it was pretty bad, so I didn't see any of the others in the series. As far as video game adaptations go, this is the best I have see and I did enjoy it more than the first. But I found neither as scary as playing the games alone in my dark room...the chills were lost with these films. It looks and feels like a video game, so for that I give it credit. The fight scenes are full of eye-candy and digital insanity, albeit borrowing waaaaaay too much from the Matrix. A good video game adaption does not mean it's going to be a good movie. Heart, character development...you know, the important stuff is missing here. And the plot really isn't more than a vehicle for action. Is it too much to ask for both these days??...At least the action is pretty cool.

Parental Guide:

**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**

(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)

Audio: 96

Dynamics:

Low frequency extension:

Surround Sound presentation:

Clarity/Detail:

Dialogue Reproduction:

Video: 92

Resolution/Clarity:

Black level/Shadow detail:

Color reproduction:

Fleshtones:

Compression:

Resident Evil: Afterlife comes to Blu-ray Disc from Sony Home Entertainment featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 26.2 mbps and DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound that has an average bitrate of 3.6 mbps.

I know it sounds weird but the problem here is how good Resident Evil: Afterlife looks. It shows off all its faults, warts and all. A casual observer might not notice but the digital effects seemed to stick out in a way that wouldn't be seen on the big screen or on SDDVD....but Blu-ray can be unforgiving. At times the CGI had a bit of separation from the frames they were laid upon and their definition was a bit different than the non CGI parts of the frame. This separation might look amazing, creating greater depth on its 3D release, but here it did stand-out as a bit off. Besides that, it was pretty impeccable. It was highly defined, super resolute with deep and un-crushed black; colors looked spot on and this sure was a fun watch. Now this audio track is one of the most ballsy, brutal and precise I have heard; it is absolutely reference material. The audio is a nice workout for you reference level listeners, and LFE lovers. The mix worked very well, and its heavy but accurate use of surrounds just added the icing to the insanity of over abundant action sequences. Resident Evil: Afterlife is absolutely recommend for its A/V presentation---Sony, you did well, again.. I cant wait to see this in 3D!!

Bonus Features:

Commentary with Director Paul W.S. Anderson, and Producers Jeremy Bolt and Robert Kulzer

(HD) 7 HD Making of Featurettes (47min)

(HD) Band of Survivors: Casting Afterlife

(HD) Outtakes

(HD) Deleted and Extended Scenes

(HD) Sneak Peak of Resident Evil: Damnation

(HD) Undead Vision: Picture in Picture

(HD) Trailers: The Social Network, Salt, Takers, Piranha 3D, The Virginity Hit ,Faster, Animal Kingdom, Justified, Game Of Death

movieIQ+sync

BD-Live

Final Thoughts:

Resident Evil: Afterlife is good for what it is, a movie based on a video game. Full of big action scenes all culminating with a "boss" that must be beaten to move on to the next and never-ending obstacle. As a movie itself, it is pretty shallow on plot, and has some weak performances. It sure looked and sounded great, so for fans of the franchise this would come highly recommended. I watched the commentary after the film and it was full of technical nuggets and interesting fact, but wasn't the most exciting or humorous I have experienced. The almost hour long group of featurettes were enjoyable--I wish all new release had a supplemental package like this. Resident Evil: Afterlife is a tough film to make a recommendation on, If you love to be dazzled by your system and don't care if the movie is so-so at best, get it!!!---but I would tell a friend to skip it.

Lee - thanks, good review. I saw the 3D version in an IMAX theater but wasn't exactly wowed by the 3D effects. To me it seems that only animated features and heavy CGI films like Avatar really capitalize on the benefits of 3D. I agree that the film is lacking on plot and character development but I think most fans of the first 3 Resident Evil films know that going in. I bought my copy but haven't had a chance to watch it but your scores for video and audio have got me keen to see it soon.

Watched this in 3D the other day. Didn't care for the movie too much, but the 3D was pretty good, but not the best I have seen. I might have to go back and re-watch some scenes in 2D, especially the final act.

i enjoyed the 1st movie, probably one of the better video game to movie adaptations. 2 and 3 were just okay, with the usual diminishing returns associated with subsequent sequels. i actually liked this installment quite a bit. i've heard it's the same director as the 1st, so maybe that's what sets it apart.

it's definitely not big on plot, and i don't think anyone involved anticipated an Oscar nod, but i'd agree that it's well worth watching, for what it is.

i also agree that the sound was well worth the price of rental.

for die-hard resident evil fans, i noticed in best buy today that there's a boxed set of all 4 movies on blu-ray...and i admit i was a little tempted. they're not HORRIBLE movies, by any means!

i enjoyed the 1st movie, probably one of the better video game to movie adaptations. 2 and 3 were just okay, with the usual diminishing returns associated with subsequent sequels. i actually liked this installment quite a bit.

I agree. This was more back to the basics plotline. Kick-ass fighting, less supernatural stuff, just more enjoyable overall than the last 2.

Sound and video gave my system a decent workout. Well worth the rental if you liked this series at all.

Happy ney year everyone!!!.I saw it in 2d at the theater (Cinepolis), and i think it was more enjoyable, i mean, no oscar winning performances here, but to me it has more action than the last 2.
by the way, zero problems in the web page on mozilla 3.6.13.

If the 3D version says it will display only in 2D, which i'm assuming is saying it will play regular version/non 3D, why is there a regular blu ray and a 3D blu ray? The 3D already includes both 2D and 3D version so why come out two versions on blu ray? I'm a bit confused and maybe someone can clarify this?

Lee, I noticed the picture is covering part of your post and I cannot read it. Is it only on my end? Thanks for the review.

Check your browser's Zoom if its set above 100% it messes up the picture's placement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamE55

My question is. Why is there two versions of this movie.

If the 3D version says it will display only in 2D, which i'm assuming is saying it will play regular version/non 3D, why is there a regular blu ray and a 3D blu ray? The 3D already includes both 2D and 3D version so why come out two versions on blu ray? I'm a bit confused and maybe someone can clarify this?

Hey everyone. Is it just my TV, or were the scene transitions in this movie on the purple side? Blacks seemed good throughout, except when there was a cut in they always looked a tad purple on my screen. Please let me know. Thanks.

Happy ney year everyone!!!.I saw it in 2d at the theater (Cinepolis), and i think it was more enjoyable, i mean, no oscar winning performances here, but to me it has more action than the last 2.
by the way, zero problems in the web page on mozilla 3.6.13.

I bought this Blu-ray in the 3D version. We were very impressed with the 3D movie.

Until now our 3D viewing was limited to animation movies (monsters vs aliens, cloudy with a chance of meatballs) and the occasional directTV 3D program on one of the 3D channels. For some reason the broadcast 3D stuff hasn't really impressed either.

But WOW, we fell in love with the movie, and were ready to watch it again after it was over (still haven't but will someday soon). There was only a few instances that I noticed minimal ghosting, but was really impressed with the overall immersion of the 3D. Occasionally I would raise my glasses to view in 2D and quickly noticed how flat it was.

For reference, we have the Samsung PN63C8000 plasma 3D 63" tellivision and the 6900 Samsung 3D player. The blu-ray feeds into our new Pioneer 1120 AVR and pumps out into the new 7.1 Polk speaker system, and an extra 2nd SW. On movie nights we move our loveseat to about 8' from the display to get full emersion. Normally I'd say our viewing distance is about 14'.

But again.. totally loved the movie and would reccommend it to anyone that has been wanting to be impressed with your new 3D equipment. I don't think I've seen much of the previous movies in the series so am just basing my judgement on this stand alone movie.

Picked up the 3d version, but have not watched yet. Very excited to hear the audio and see the native 3d.

Just to follow up on this.........I watched this a few weeks back and while pop-out 3d was excellent, 3d depth was very lacking for me in this one. Out of the ~15 titles I have watched, this one had the least amount of depth and was the biggest 3d disappointment yet for me because of this. Martin over at bluray.com said it best in his review of the PQ/3d and my experience was incredibly close to his........bummer The good news is I did a trade for HTTYD 3d which has incredible depth, reference audio and is a great movie so it all worked out in the end. The strange thing about this title is the VERY wide range of opinion on the 3d which has a much bigger margin than any title I have read about/seen so far...........bad discs out there? Probably not, but who knows.........the wide range of opinion is interesting to say the least. What makes this even more confusing is a buddy of mine who has the same projector (RS40) and same player (Oppo 93) and we are even using VERY similar settings in each, thought this was one of the best 3d blus yet...........we have been very close in opinion on ALL other titles, but we are miles apart on this one............I dont get it.